#for someone as me who claims to love the Lambda clothes

[officersnickers]

🌌 𝓜𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓝𝓸𝓻𝓶𝓪𝓷 2024 - 𝓟𝓻𝓮-𝓣𝓮𝓮𝓷 🌌

Spending some of your most vulnerable years in a literal prison, that forces medication daily onto you that will slowly, painfully kill you, yeah... that surely did wonders on Norman's psyche 💧

But his Lambda sweater is still the cutest outfit ever, so, thank you anyway, Peter Ratri?

[blackkudos]

Star Jones

Starlet Marie Jones (born March 24, 1962) is an American lawyer, journalist, television personality, fashion designer, author, and women's and diversity advocate. She is best known as one of the original co-hosts on the ABC morning talk show The View, on which she appeared from 1997 to 2006. She was also one of sixteen contestants of the fourth installment of The Celebrity Apprentice in 2011, coming in fifth place.

Early life

Jones was born in Badin, North Carolina and grew up in Trenton, New Jersey with her mother, a human services administrator, and her stepfather, a municipal security chief.

Jones graduated from Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. She earned a B.A. degree in Administration of Justice at American University, where she was initiated into the Lambda Zeta chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Jones earned a J.D. degree from the University of Houston Law Center in 1986, and was admitted to the New York state bar in 1987.

Television career

From 1986 to 1991, Jones was a prosecutor with the Kings County District Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, New York. In 1992, she was elevated to senior assistant district attorney. She was recruited by Court TV in 1991 as a commentator for the William Kennedy Smith rape trial and spent several years as a legal correspondent for NBC's Today and NBC Nightly News. In 1994, she was given her own court show, Jones & Jury, which mimicked the arbitration-based reality format of The People's Court, though with a talk show like set as opposed to a courtroom set. Although the show was canceled after only one year, Jones became the first black person and female to serve as a television arbitrator of a courtroom series.

Jones then became chief legal analyst on Inside Edition, where she led the coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder case. She was the only reporter to interview Simpson during his civil trial, which she covered for American Journal.

The View

In 1997, Jones joined The View as one of its original four co-hosts. Jones's nine-season tenure on The View was marked by controversy at times. Jones, who had been diagnosed as morbidly obese, began to undergo dramatic weight loss beginning in 2003. In a September 2007 essay in Glamour magazine, she revealed that she had undergone gastric bypass surgery in August 2003, resulting in a loss of 160 pounds (73 kilograms) over three years. Many criticized Jones for her initial dishonesty when she claimed she had lost weight via diet and exercise. Barbara Walters told Oprah Winfrey in May 2008 that she had kept Jones' gastric bypass surgery a secret because Jones had asked her to, and that lying on the show turned the audience off.

Additionally, when she married investment banker Al Reynolds in 2004, Jones reported her wedding plans on The View for months beforehand, including "plugs" (public mentions) for her suppliers, such as the wedding invitations, clothing, and airlines. It was later revealed that Jones had pushed product-placement in exchange for receiving those products and services for free. ABC claimed that her excessive self-promotion alienated viewers. On April 21, 2006, Jones discovered that her contract would not be renewed for the following season. Her agent called her then husband Al Reynolds and informed him as Jones was in Phoenix at the time. Reynolds flew to Phoenix & told Jones her contract would not be renewed.

ABC, Barbara Walters and Bill Geddie then told Jones she could go out on "her own terms". They had collectively decided for Jones to announce her impending departure on Thursday, June 29, 2006, but Jones surprised her co-hosts by announcing it two days earlier on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 when they returned from their first commercial break that she would be leaving the show. She stated that she would remain on the show through July, and she would not return in the fall. She did not reveal during her announcement that her contract wasn't renewed. After Jones revealed her departure live on air, co-host Joy Behar jokingly said, "Who am I going to fight with now?" to which Jones replied, "I have a feeling you'll have someone else to fight with."

Despite this, Walters announced the next day that Jones would no longer appear on the show with the exception of previously recorded segments, publicly claiming feeling "betrayed" by Jones for unexpectedly making the announcement two days ahead of schedule. In an interview with People, Jones claimed the decision to leave was not hers and that in April, producers told her that her contract would not be renewed.Walters later stated that ABC executives had decided not to renew Jones' contract due to diminished approval for Jones through their market research.

Jones's contract was due to expire July 13, but after the program finished on June 27, ABC had discovered Jones had released an article with People magazine about her contract not being renewed, and that the decision to leave was not her own, saying, "What you don't know is that my contract was not renewed for the 10th season... I feel like I was fired." The next day, Barbara Walters gave a statement to the audience at the start of the program revealing that she had been "blindsided," and that Jones would no longer appear on "The View". When the series went into summer reruns, only programs in which she had been absent from the panel were rebroadcast. Jones was removed from the opening credits, leaving only Walters, Joy Behar, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

Shortly after her dismissal, Jones appeared on Larry King Live to respond to questions about why ABC had refused to renew her contract. Regarding her wedding controversy, Jones insisted that every mention of her wedding had been specifically approved and negotiated by the network, and not in violation of any policy. She also denied that she had caused a ratings drop, and claimed that the ratings during the 2004-05 season were the highest The View had had in the nine years she was a co-host.

Jones' departure caused a rift between her and Walters that lasted nearly six years. In May 2008, in response to allegations in Barbara Walters's autobiography, Audition, Jones told US Magazine: "It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book. It speaks to her true character." Walters did not respond.

On February 22, 2012, Jones returned to The View as a guest, and has made subsequent guest appearances since then.

truTV

On March 7, 2007, Jones announced that she would return to her original network, Court TV—now rebranded truTV—as its new executive editor of daytime programming, and that she would host an eponymous live weekday talk show based on the law and pop culture. Star Jones premiered on August 20, 2007, as a guest-driven live broadcast (with taped segments) covering recent stories from the worlds of pop culture, entertainment, crime, and justice.

Just six months later, her show was canceled, and it was announced that Jones was leaving truTV due to "changes in their programming selection." The final episode of Star Jones aired on February 1, 2008. Jones received the balance on her $24 million, three-year contract, and the network stated that Jones was eliminated from the channel's lineup because it deemed Jones "too serious" for its tabloid-focused coverage. However, according to The Washington Post, "[Jones's] show averaged 186,000 viewers and, by its final telecast, was down in the neighborhood of 85,000." In January 2011, the talk show was featured among "10 Notable Talk Show Failures" by CNBC.com.

Other appearances

From September 2004 to September 2005, Jones was a red-carpet host for the E! television network, conducting interviews at awards shows. E! declined to renew her contract after one year.

Jones has hosted or guest-hosted numerous cable programs, including the HGTV program House Hunters in New York City (which "scored the largest household ratings in the cable channel's history"), the Michael Eric Dyson radio show, Larry King Live (where she interviewed Beyoncé Knowles while King was on vacation), and The Bad Girls Club Season 2 reunion on the Oxygen Network.

In addition, she has made acting appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (where she played a former incarnation of herself—a Brooklyn prosecutor named Star Jones—in the eighth-season finale), and as a judge in Drop Dead Diva in August 2012.

She has also served as a legal analyst for The Insider and Dr. Phil, and often appears on The Wendy Williams Show.

On July 17, 2009, Jones appeared on a celebrity version of Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, during which she won $25,000 to benefit The East Harlem School at Exodus House, a New York City middle school for underserved populations.

Jones was also a contestant on the fourth season of The Celebrity Apprentice. She placed fifth on the show, eliminated after her brand messaging efforts in a TV commercial for OnStar were not well received by the OnStar executives.

Books

Jones is the author of You Have to Stand for Something, or You'll Fall for Anything, a collection of autobiographical essays published in 1998. Her second book, Shine: A Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Journey to Finding Love (2006), detailed changes she made to reshape her life, including her marriage and dramatic weight loss. She released a third book in March 2011, Satan's Sisters, a roman à clef about a fictional television talk show featuring five women of clashing temperaments. A scripted television series based on Satan's Sisters, titled Daytime Divas, aired for one season on VH1 from June 5 to July 31, 2017. Jones served as an executive producer on the series, and guest-starred as herself in the July 24, 2017, episode.

Affiliations

Jones is the President of the National Association of Professional Women (NAPW). She created the organization's philanthropic endeavor, NAPW Foundation, to benefit the American Heart Association, of which Jones is also a National Volunteer; the Breast Cancer Research Foundation; Dress For Success and Girls, Inc. Jones also conducts regular visits to NAPW Local Chapters and hosts the organization’s annual National Networking Conference.

Jones is also the president of Professional Diversity Network (NASDAQ: IPDN). She is also a member of its board of directors, becoming the youngest of a small circle of African-American women in the US leading a public company.

Personal life

Jones underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2003. She lost 160 pounds as a result of the procedure.

Jones married investment banker Al Reynolds on November 13, 2004. Reynolds proposed to Jones during the 2004 NBA All-Star Game. Amid much publicity, the wedding was held at Saint Bartholomew's Church in New York City in front of five hundred guests and featured three matrons of honor, twelve bridesmaids, two junior bridesmaids, three best men, twelve groomsmen, three junior groomsmen, six footmen, four ring bearers, and four flower girls. More than thirty corporate "sponsors" donated wedding attire and merchandise for the event in exchange for mentions in the media and on Jones's website. After the wedding, Jones began using the name "Star Jones Reynolds" professionally, but reverted to "Star Jones" in 2007, telling Entertainment Weekly that she wanted to keep her public persona separate from her private self. On March 9, 2008, Jones and Reynolds announced they were divorcing.

On March 17, 2010, Jones underwent cardiac surgery related to a surgery she had three decades earlier for a thoracic tumor.

On October 24, 2017, Jones went public with her engagement to Ricardo Lugo, who recently worked in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Lugo was employed as an assistant state's attorney from April to August, according to a State’s Attorney’s Office spokesperson. He was one of 17 prosecutors laid off because of county budget issues.

Jones married Ricardo Lugo on a cruise ship in the Bahamas on Sunday, March 25, 2018.

[hellogoodbye741]

Finally tracking my book challenges for the first time this year can ignore

I was supposed to be doing this on the reg, but I was being lazy. Whooooppss

BAD BOYS OF ROMANCE CHALLENGE:

15 romance novels  about bad boys, MC, mobsters, etc:

Royally Bad

Filthy English

Bad Stepbrother

SEAL Stepbrother

Bad teacher

Kenzie and the guy next door

Savage

Engaging the Billionaire

My Wicked Prince

Bad Guy

Alpha’s Danger

The Geek and his Bad Boys

His Miracle Baby

DIVERSIFY YOUR READING:

A new genre every month

January - Memoir, and Autobiography: Reading Lolita in Tehran

February - Romance: The Prince’s Omega Nanny

March - Science, and Technology: Post Mordem

April - Graphic Novels, and Comics: Calamity Jack

May - History, and Biography: 1776

June - Middle Grade, and Children’s: Winnie the Pooh

July - Humor: Noir

August - Science Fiction: Errant Prince

September - Nonfiction: Diary of Anne Frank

October - YA:

November - Poetry:

December - Fantasy:

A - Z:

Read a book that’s title starts with every letter of the alphabet

A: Al Capone Throws Me a Curve

B: Black Leopard, Red Wolf

C: Crazy Rich Asians

D: Da Vinci Code

E: Eragon

F: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

G: Grumpy Monkey

H: Hidden Figures

I: In Another Time

J: Juno Valentine and the Magical Shoes

K: Knights vs Monsters

L: Library of Ever

M: Mr. Popper’s Penguins

N: Noir

O: Other Words from Home

P: Post Mordem

Q:

R: Reading Lolita in Tehran

S: Seizure

T: Terminal

U: Uni the Unicorn

V: Virals

W: Winnie the Pooh

X:

Y: Yertle the Turtle

Z: Zombie

Ragdoll:

A Funny Book: Noir

A Family Member’s Favorite Book: Da Vinci Code

A Book with a real city in the title: Reading Lolita in Tehran

A Book with No Romance: Whipping Romance

A Book you wouldn’t normally read: Fire and Fury

A ‘free’ book: Bride in Disguise

A Book you’ve been meaning to read: Hidden Figures

A ‘classic book’:

A book or author with an alliterative name: Crazy Rich Asians

A translated book: The Little Prince

A Book with a terrible cover: The Geek and his bad boys

A ‘random number’ book: 77 Shadow Street

A book whose author shares your initials:

A book over 500 pages: 1776

A book with a strong female lead: Civil War pt 2

A book that takes place at sea:

A book set in the past:

A book everyone seems to love: Crazy Rich Asians

A spooky book: 77 Shadow Street

A book by a POC or LGBTQIA+ author: Number One Chinese Restaurant 

A book you’ve never heard of: the house that Lou built 

A ‘Top of 2019’ book: Black Leopard, Red Wolf 

A book set in another country/culture: Crazy Rich Asians 

A memorable book: Whipping Boy 

Read Les Miserables

Another book by a P.O.C or LGBTQIA+ author: Crazy Rich Asians

Color-Coded/Read it Again Sam:

Books with color on the cover or in the title/re-reading books (17) you’ve read in the past

A book with ‘blue; or any shade of blue in title/on the cover: True Blue

A book with red/any shade in title or color: Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Yellow: Yellow Wallpaper

Green: Prodigal Summer 

Black: Black Leopard, Red Wolf 

White:

Any other color: Color Purple

A book with a word that implies color in title or on color (polka dot, rainbow, plaid, etc): rainbow fish

Re-read: Da Vinci Code

Re-read: Rainbow Fish

Re-read: House on Mango Street

Re-read: Whipping Boy

Re-read: Red Scarf Girl

Re-read: Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

Re-read: Eragon

Re-read: Winnie the Pooh

Re-read: 

Re-read: 

Re-read: 

Re-read: 

Re-read: 

Re-read: 

Re-read: 

Re-read: 

Re-read:

Women Reading:

Books written by women/about women

Mystery/thriller by a WOC:

Woman with a mental illness: Yellow Wallpaper 

Author from Nigeria or New Zealand 

About or set in Appalachia: Prodigal Summer 

Children’s book: the house that lou built 

Multi-gen family saga 

Featuring women in science: Hidden Figures 

A play: Raisin in the Sun 

A novella: House on Mango Street

About a woman athlete: Who are Venus and Serena williams 

A book featuring a religion other than your own: Reading Lolita in Tehran 

Lambda literary award winner: 

A myth retelling: Song of Achilles 

A translated book published before 1945: Little Prince 

Written by a South Asian Author: The Lowlands 

By an Indigenous woman:

From 2018 Reading Women Award Shortlist:A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza 

Romance or love story: Second chance thing - lennox 

About nature: How to be a good creature 

Historical fiction book: In another Time 

Book bought/borrowed 2019: Second Chance Thing - Elizabeth Lennox

Book you got because of the cover: the house that lou built

YA book by a W.O.C.: Children of Blood and Bone 

Book by Jesmyn Ward: Sing, unburied, sing 

Book by Jhumpa Lahiri: The Lowlands 

Modern Ms. Darcy:

A book you’ve been meaning to read:Hidden Figures

A book in the backlist of your favorite author: Noir

A book recommended by someone with great taste: Sweet Surrender

Three books by the same author: Virals

Three books by same author: Seizure

Three books by same author: Chaos 

A book you chose for the cover: Hunting Prince Dracula 

A book by an author who is new to you: Number One Chinese Restaurant 

A book in translation: Little Prince 

A book outside your (genre) comfort zone: Fire and Fury

A book published before you were born: Little Prince

Pop Sugar Challenge:

A book becoming a movie in 2019: Sun is not a Star

A book that makes you nostalgic: Whipping Boy 

A book written by a musician: Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl 

A book that you think should be made into a movie: Virals 

A book at least with 1 million ratings on Goodreads: 

A book with a plant in the title or cover: How to be a good Creature

A reread of a favorite book: Da Vinci Code

A book about a hobby: the house that lou built 

A book you meant to read in 2018: Crazy Rich Asians 

A book with “pop” “sugar” or “challenge” in the title: Hop on Pop A book with “pop” “sugar” or “challenge” in the title: Hop on Pop 

A book with a item of clothing or accessory in title or cover: Red Scarf Girl

A book inspired by mythology, legend, or folklore: Song of Achilles 

A book published posthumously: The girl who played with fire 

A book set in space: Little Prince

A book by two female authors: 

A book that contains “salty” “sweet” “bitter” or “spicy”: Sweet Surrender 

A book set in Scandinavia: Girl who played with fire 

A book that takes place in a single day: Sun is also a star

A debut novel: The Help 

A book published in 2019:  elizabeth lennox 

Book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature: Claimed by a Dragon 

A book recommended by a celebrity that you admire: A place for us (jennifer garner) 

A book with “love” in the title: 

A book featuring an amateur detective: Hope Never Dies 

A book about a family: 

A book by an author from Asia, Africa, or South America: House on Mango Street 

A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in the title: The Birth of Venus 

A book you see someone reading on tv or in a movie: Wuthering Heights 

A retelling of a classic: 

A book with a question in the title:

A book set on a college or university campus: Royal Academy

A book about someone with a superpower: Civil War 

A book with multiple POV: Crazy Rich Asians

A book that includes a wedding: Crazy Rich Asians 

A book from an author with alliteration: Crazy Rich Asians 

A ghost story:

A book with a two-word title: Hidden Figures 

A novel based on a true story: Hidden Figures 

A book revolving around a puzzle or game: Code 

Your favorite prompt from a past popsugar challenge: The Color Purple 

A ‘climate fiction’ book: 

A “choose your own adventure” book: 

An “own voices” book: Children of Blood and Bone 

Read a book during the season it is set in: 

A LitRPG book: 

A book with no chapters, unusual chapter headings, or unconventionally numbered chapters: The Errant Prince 

Two books that share the same title: From Here to Eternity - Caitlin DOughty 

Two books that share the same title: 

A book that has inspired a common phrase or idiom: 

A book set in an abbey, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or convent: Da Vinci Code 

Read Harder Challenge:

A Epistolary Novel: Color Purple

An Alternate History Novel: Stalking Jack the Ripper 

A Book by a woman/AOC that won a literary award in 2018: Hunger: A Memoir of (my) body 

A Humor Book: Noir 

A book by a journalist or about journalism: The Girl who played with fire 

A book by an AOC set in or about space: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor 

An #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America:Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel 

An #ownvoices book set in Oceania: 

A book published before Jan. 1st, 2019 that has less than 100 reviews on Goodreads: 

A translated book written/a book translated by a woman: 

A book on Manga: 

A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a POV character: Fox 8 by George Saunders 

A book by or about someone that ID’s a neurodiverse: 

A cozy mystery: 

A book of mythology or lore: Song of Achilles 

A historical romance written by a AOC: 

A business book: Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World’s Greatest Chocolate Makers by Deborah Cadbury

A novel by a trans or nonbinary author: 

A book of nonviolent true crime: The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell: 

A book written in prison: 

A children’s or middle grade book (not YA) that has won a diversity award since 2009: 

A comic by an LGBTQIA creator: Through the Woods by Emily Carroll 

A self-published book: 

A collection of poetry published since 2014:

Current number of books read: 631/900